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British Journal of Industrial Medicine 1988;45:309-31 1
Formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine by asbestos
and man made mineral fibres
P LEANDERSON, P SODERKVIST, C TAGESSON, 0 AXELSON
From the Departments of Occupational Medicine and Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, S-581 85
Linkoping, Sweden
Samples of rockwool and glass fibre were compared with chrysotile fibres for their
capacity to hydroxylate 2-deoxyguanosine to 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, a reaction that is mediated
by formation of hydroxyl radicals. All three fibres produced 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine in the
absence of H202. The chrysotile fibres were most potent and produced about ten times more of the
modified nucleoside than rockwool and glass fibre. This investigation shows that not only asbestos
but also man made mineral fibres are able to modify nucleosides.
ABSTRACT
Several epidemiological and experimental studies have
shown the carcinogenic properties of asbestos fibres'
but the underlying molecular mechanisms have not yet
been clarified. Recent studies indicate that asbestos
fibres can induce the formation of reactive oxygen
metabolites and that the ensuing free radicals may
damage DNA. It has therefore been suggested that
surface components of chrysotile, crocidolite, and
amosite may catalyse formation of hydroxyl radicals
(OH) and other reactive oxygen compounds.2 Such
reactive oxygen species may cause DNA strand
breaks4 and pyrimidine base modifications' in various
experimental systems and a cellular oxidative stress
has therefore been proposed to play a major part in
restrictions in its use and efforts have been made to
find substitutes, usually other fibrous materials.
Fibrous materials, however, have also been used for a
long time as insulation in the construction industry
and the energy crisis has resulted in increasing efforts
in this respect also with regard to old buildings.
Therefore, many workers are exposed to man made
mineral fibres (MMMF). A large cohort study of
workers in different European countries has recently
been carried out by the International Agency for
Research on Cancer and found an excess risk of lung
cancer associated with exposure to MMMF.8 Intrapleural or intraperitoneal injections of glass fibres and
other MMMF in experimental animals have shown
some carcinogenic effects.9 In vitro experiments with
carcinogenesis.'
Kasai and Nishimura studied the OH-mediated glass fibre have resulted in chromosome aberrations in
hydroxylation of deoxyguanosine (dG, fig 1, left) to 8- culture cells'" and morphological transformation of
hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG, fig 1, right) in a Syrian hamster embryo cells in culture."
In this study we show that two important MMMFs,
cell free system containing ascorbic acid, Fe2", EDTA,
and 02,7 It was found that the combined action of rockwool and glass fibre, both induce the formation of
asbestos and H202 resulted in hydroxylation of dG in 8-OH-dG from dG, although not to the same extent as
calf thymus DNA and potentiated the hydroxylation asbestos.
of dG.3 Such a formation of 8-OH-dG and other
modified DNA bases is likely to cause structural and
0
0
conformational changes in the DNA molecule and so
HN
N
increase the mispairing rate during DNA replication
HN
N>
and repair. Thus it may be hypothesised that the H2N' N
N
Oxygen
N
H2NKN
carcinogenic effect of asbestos is due to free radical
mediated DNA damage and that the carcinogenic
HO
HO
0
potential ofdifferent fibres may be assessed by measuring their ability to hydroxylate dG to 8-OH-dG (fig 1).
The carcinogenic properties of asbestos have caused
HO
Deoxyguanosine
Accepted 22 June 1987
HO
8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine
Fig 1 Formation of 8-OH-dG by hydroxylation of dG.
309
Leanderson, Soiderkvist, Tagesson, Axelson
acid, 25 mM sodium acetate, 30 mM NaOH, and 10
mM acetic acid.
310
Materials and methods
FIBRES AND CHEMICALS
Rockwool was provided by Dr Rockwool Inc,
Skovde, Sweden, and crysotile and glass fibre by Dr
Bengt Christensen, National Board of Occupational
Safety and Health, Solna, Sweden. 2'-Deoxyguanosine
(research grade) was obtained from Serva Feinbiochemica GMBH & Co, Heidelberg FRG; 8-OH-dG
was synthesised according to Kasai and Nishimura.7
EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS
Fibres (45 mg) were mixed with 100 p1 10 mM dG and
2-0 ml 100 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7-5. The mixtures
were incubated in the dark at 37°C for up to 27 hours
using a shaking water bath. After incubation for
various periods the samples were allowed to sediment
for 10 minutes and an aliquot of the supernatant was
analysed for 8-OH-dG.
Results
Figure 2A shows the chromatographic behaviour of
8-OH-dG. Chrysotile fibres produced 8-OH-dG
efficiently even in the absence of H202 (fig 2B).
Rockwool and glass fibres also produced 8-OH-dG
but not as efficiently as chrysotile (figs 2C and 2D,
respectively). Under the incubation conditions used,
the fibres caused a linear increase in 8-OH-dG-content
up to at least 27 h (fig 3). During 20 hours incubation
of rockwool and glass fibre, about 50 and 30 pmol 8OH-dG were produced, respectively. On the other
hand, chrysotile was more efficient in generating 8OH-dG and under corresponding incubation conditions about 500 pmol was produced (data not shown).
In the control incubation (without fibres) only trace
amounts 8-OH-dG were detectable (figs 2E and 3).
ANALYSIS
8-OH-dG was determined using high performance
liquid chromatography. A LDC constametric III
pump with an amperometric electrochemical detector
(Zata 4C, Zata Elektronik, Lund, Sweden) was used.
The detector was equipped with a LC-1 7 cell from
Bioanalytical Systems Inc and in the oxidative mode
(0-60 V) as decribed by Floyd et al.'2 After sedimentation of the fibres, 20 1l of the reaction mixture
was injected on to a Rainin microsorb C 18 column (3
gm, 150 x 4-6 mm). The mobile phase consisted of
10% aqueous methanol containing 12 5 mM citric
0
©
Discussion
The experiments performed show that the presence of
asbestos, rockwool, or glass fibres in an incubation
mixture containing the nucleoside dG but no H202
results in a hydroxylation of dG to 8-OH-dG. Earlier,
Kasai and Nishimura have shown that different types
of asbestos fibres have different capacities to hydroxylate dG in calf thymus DNA in the presence of H202.3
Chrysotile, crocidolite, and amosite were then shown
©
0
0
H
I
LI
.l
I%
I
Fig 2 HPLC chromatograms showingformation of 8-OH-dG in different samples: (A) external standard, 2 pmol, (B)
chrysotile sample, (C) rock wool sample, (D) glassfibre sample, (E) dG without any fibre. Samples B-E w4ere incubatedfor
20 hours. Sample volume, 20 pi.
Formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine by asbestos and man made mineralfibres
311
activity. The hydroxyl radical producing capacity may
be related to the surface area of the fibre rather than
weight (unpublished observations).
E
The quantitative differences observed between
asbestos and MMMFs in our simple system seem
somewhat to parallel epidemiological findings, and it
is therefore tempting to speculate that generation of
hydroxyl radicals could represent an important step in
the carcinogenic action of asbestos, rockwool, and
glass fibres.
15.
101
0
5-
0
5
10
15
Tirne (h)
20
25
Fig 3 Formation of 8-OH-dG v time in mixtures containing
rock wool (0), glassfibre (LO ), and withoutfibre ( A ).
to be more efficient
than, for instance, antophyllite.
It has been suggested that the molecular mechanism
for formation of 8-OH-dG involves free radicals and,
in particular, hydroxyl radicals. Dizdaroglu was able
to separate and identify 12 different modifed DNA
bases, among them 8-OH-dG after irradiation with x
rays.t3 X Rays are known to generate hydroxyl radicals
in several biological systems and this is believed to be
the molecular basis for the carcinogenic effects of
radiation.36
Concerning asbestos and other mineral particulates,
possibly the surface area is responsible for the generation of hydroxyl radicals. By using electron spin
resonance spectroscopy Zalma et al showed that
asbestos and other mineral particles produced free
radicals.i3a In line with these observations it seems
plausible to expect other mineral fibre surfaces to
harbour similar properties. To our knowledge this is
the first time MMMFs such as rockwool and glass
fibre have been shown to generate reactive oxygen
intermediates that hydroxylate dG. By contrast with
Kasai and Nishimura, these results were obtained
without any addition of H202. Our results in this
respect could be explained by the use of the HPLC-EC
system which is at least a 1000 fold more sensitive than
ultraviolet detection system as outlined by Floyd et
al. 2
During recent years oxygen radicals have received
much attention as a mechanism of action in the
carcinogenic process.6t4 The carcinogenic action of
asbestos has so far been unclear, but the surface
activation of oxygen to oxygen radicals represents an
attractive explanation as one important factor in this
complex process. Factors such as oxygen radical
formation capacity, surface area, and biological
stability of the fibre may be important for the overall
This work was in part supported by a grant from the
County Council of Ostergotland Research Fund.
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